203 — Mingling Its Own Nature With It

Sans Pantalons

Actual sans pantalons.

Sophy says: Okay so, the episode started and I was all OH MY GOD THAT IS SO PRETTY MY PANTS ARE DROPPING and then lo and behold Tatiana Maslany dropped her actual pants and okay so it wasn’t so much on account of the pretty as on account of peeing but still. Actual pants drop, you guys.

Also Felix and his hatred of the great outdoors forever.

Rin says: He is such an Archie/Rae.

But dead trees in overgrown fields are always eerily pretty aren’t they? I think it says something about how much we’ve grown as people that we didn’t put in Tatiana sexy-pantless for this category, and put in lolsy camping urination instead.

&

Sophy says: Rin selected this. Apparently she appreciates Dead Tatiana Maslany she had to double up the category about it.

Sophy says: Okay so I still want my Hello featurette and all, but while I’m waiting for the DVDs to land I’ll take Helena/Grapes/Chicken as an OT3. AN ANGSTY ONE IN WHICH THE GRAPES GET SPIT OUT AND THE CHICKEN TRIES TO CHEAT WITH THE MAID.

Sophy says: Orphan Black 203. In which Tatiana Maslany did that thing where she cries and makes all of us cry along with her like she’s some kind pied piper of the tear ducts.

There’s something about seeing someone as hardened and self-possessed as Sarah be truly vulnerable that is almost a little scary and kind of cathartic. Which is exactly how this scene was for Sarah – this whole episode, really. Sarah is constantly in danger, but never more so than when she is laid open to Kira’s scrutiny – because Kira matters most, always, and the older she gets the more it matters what she thinks.

It’s silly in a way because this child is the one person in the world who would never judge Sarah, and not just because she’s a kid, and not just because she’s her daughter. Kira just doesn’t do judge. She is actually kind of angelic that way, to the extent that I’m hoping Bob from Bomb Girls never ever ever gets his hands on her. He would definitely try to marry her, you guys, and I would press pause and never resume.

Seriously though. It just kills me that even when Kira calls Sarah out on saying she wanted her all to herself by pointing out that she “always left,” it’s said totally without judgment. It’s just an observation. It’s just Kira trying so so very genuinely to understand. And that was what Sarah always wanted, right? To understand why she’d been unwanted. To understand why she’d been left behind. To understand why she didn’t belong to anyone – not really. That’s why Sarah starts crying – because she has brought this worst of pains on her daughter and she wants more than anything to make it right. And the first part of that is helping her understand and know that she is not alone. So Sarah cries and tells Kira about her life when she was a child – about feeling angry and confused – she gives her probably the biggest helping of honesty we’ve seen her give anyone so far – and I’m not talking honesty about being a clone or being on the run or any of that. I’m talking about the things Sarah was running from before all of this happened. I’m talking honesty about the things that are real and always have been and always will be, even when all of this is over (Sarah hopes).

And then she tells Kira that she brought her here because there are two parts of her – she doesn’t just come from Sarah, she comes from Cal too – from her father who, god willing, has nothing to do with Neolutionists and DYAD – who, Sarah prays, isn’t even on their radar.

And that’s not because she wanted to introduce Kira finally. That’s the lie. Sarah brought Kira here because she realized she needed to do what Mrs S did in the last episode, which is put Kira first – give her an escape route, no matter what, even if it means escaping from her own mother. Sarah brings Kira to Cal because she realizes that her child is half, you know, regular joe and that as such she can pass for one – live as one – in peace and anonymity. She can have a good life with Cal, as long as Sarah isn’t selfish about it. And I think in this scene she’s crying partly because she’s realizing what she would actually be giving up – her little monkey who she is only just getting to know as this gentle little person who thinks and matters all the more for it.

And then Kira asks if she likes Cal and Sarah says yes, she did, a long time ago she liked him very much. And then Kira is the cutest thing in the whole world when she says she likes his beard.

CUTEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

Rin says: That really was the cutest thing in the world. She might take out the second-CHE in the Rophers 2014. Early front runner.

I am so glad you pointed out how this is about Sarah opening up about something she felt, and obviously still feels, before all of this crazy shit started happening. Something that is very normal and human — something that we might forget about in this fantasy clone world. Before all of this Sarah was just a little girl, someone who was angry and sad about not having real parents. And my heart just breaks completely for her, as I imagine it would for anyone…let alone when Tatiana Maslany is making faces like that. And they didn’t even warn us! It was like BOOM heartwrenching scene, haha sucked in viewers you never stood a chance.

I kind of love Sarah for not treating Kira with kiddie gloves, despite her being the most adorable kid ever and wishing only fluffy things for her. She’s definitely the most honest we’ve ever seen Sarah be, and it makes sense that it was with the most important person to her. Honesty and vulnerability are the things we share with the people who matter most. I guess in a way I also appreciate the way the show doesn’t treat Kira like a naive child. She understands things with a maturity that is often underestimated in kids her age, and is more perceptive than we give them credit for. Also I adore this little girl actor. Seriously, how are you so good.

I LIKE HIS BEARD.

Sophy says: I CAN’T DECIDE WHETHER ‘KIDDIE GLOVES’ IS ADORABLE OR PEDOPHILIC. THAT SHOULDN’T EVEN BE AN EITHER/OR.

Sophy says: It’s a good thing the episode ended or I would have been in pause and never resume territory. Because seriously this has got to be one of the creepiest things that has ever happened? I mean, I was expecting the sedation and rape of some kind (which is what I presume is going to happen shortly) but why do these freaks have to make it all… official? NEWSFLASH CRAZIES: Dressing rape up in a white dress and having a ceremony about it doesn’t make it not rape. It just makes it slightly more terrifying for the viewers at home, okay?

Although I’m pretty sure Helena is going to be the one doing the terrifying soon enough. God help these assholes when the sedation wears off (pretty sure he won’t).

Rin says: IT IS one of the creepiest things to ever happen! I couldn’t believe that they were all dressed in white and then freaking cheered him on when they got ~married or whatever the fuck it was, and he whisked her away as if she was a willing bride. It was just the utter worst. And I’m unsure if I can ever look at Bob from Bomb Girls in the same way again Whatever happened to spaghetti Bob? WHAT HAPPENED TO SPAGHETTI?!?!?

Also the way it was filmed/edited was uber creepy too. That’s something Orphan Black is good at doing, creating a very uncomfortable skin-crawling atmosphere to make sure we felt every bit as squicked as we were supposed to. Thanks for that show! Appreciate it!

Sophy says: So I’ve received a couple of tumblr asks telling me that this episode should put my mind at rest re: Felix and the possibility that he is involved with DYAD, because of the crying and the leaving and whatnot. But honestly? This episode only freaked me out more.

Please understand: when I say I fear Felix is or has been Sarah’s monitor it’s not that I’m saying he’s evil and has just been playing her – and us – all this time. Honestly I would cry shitty writing on that, particularly after all the emotion he showed in this episode. But the thing is that if Felix were involved in any way with DYAD it would most certainly be a reluctant involvement, under some kind of threat, or all generated by a mistake he made when he was a stupid, adorable hipster teenager. It’s not as though being a monitor and loving your clone have been shown to be mutually exclusive right? Getting caught up with DYAD doesn’t necessarily make you a terrible person – it just makes you royally fucked and permanently desperate?

In that context I could see Felix being devastated by having to leave Sarah – yes – having to leave her – I say that because I am now getting all sorts of uncomfortable feelings about the above.

The above as in Felix going to be with Alison. Look, all I’m going to say is that Felix having issues about Sarah and Cal and the fact that Sarah lied about him and wants to hang around for maybe just a few days or heck, even forever… the fact that he chose to simply leave over all of that? That he wept about it? That he cited Alison as a reason to leave when he’d previously been quite gung-ho about leaving her behind forever? That he still didn’t tell Sarah about her situation? It just all felt very sudden and strange to me. As though perhaps something else was going on behind the scenes.

What’s currently running through my head: maybe Felix was assigned to Alison as an emergency monitor now that she knows about Donnie. Maybe he went with Sarah because he was trying to run along with her. Maybe he realized along the way that trying to get out with them was selfish and that he had to do the right thing by Sarah and Kira and go back. Maybe he realized that exactly in this scene when Sarah said that Kira deserved something nourishing – that there was no place for him here either as monitor or as family member – and that to love them both he had to leave them.

MAYBE I’LL WRITE ORPHAN BLACK FANFIC SOMEDAY. With Faberry in it.

But the thing is that either way – whether he’s squeaky clean or actually not – I love Felix so much. My heart breaks for him in this episode – for his aloneness – for the not so funny ways he’s a fish out of water. And whatever the reason may be, I love that he was there on opening night, for Alison’s sake.

AND NOT JUST BECAUSE SHE CRACKED LIKE A DRUNKEN LITTLE EGG, JESUS CHRIST.

Rin says: So we’re just fully jumping into the paranoia bath now are we? But I have to agree. I don’t know, there is something about Felix that isn’t quite sitting right. Or that’s just how paranoia works, isn’t it? We suspect something and then suddenly all of the persons actions are suss and we’re not quite sure where they stand. Felix is in no-mans land at the moment and it might come down to not yet having his massive moment onscreen. The grand gesture that will let us know once and for all where he truly stands. And it should be enough that he’s her brother and they’ve gone through everything together and there is a bond there that cannot be broken. Or ..as it were in this episode, was shaken surprisingly easy. They were at Cal’s for what, 2 days? And Felix decides there’s no place for him there and he just leaves? I don’t know you guys, but I’m pretty sure Felix has been in more of a bind than they were then. Or was it as simple as feeling the betrayal of Sarah not telling him who Kira’s father was after all this time, and feeling like he’d been replaced and going back to find the one person who does really need him.

I don’t know! It’s all so confusing. I want to believe, but there’s also a part of me that feels like I’m preparing myself for something that is going to hurt a heck of a lot down the road.

Faberry being in your OB fanfiction simply because you can no longer write anything without them weaselling their way in? Or because there’d be a legitimate reason..no. Nope. There would be nothing you could write that wouldn’t make it an obvious smoke screen for more faberry.

I wouldn’t complain.

Sophy says: I WILL ALWAYS WEASEL FABERRY IN.

And yeah, I’d be more than happy for a ‘HAHA YOU PARANOID FREAK’ moment with Felix to come along. But I don’t think this episode was it. Alas.

Sophy says: AHAHAHAHAHAH JUST. THE POINTING. AND THE INTENSITY. AND THEN HOW SHE WALKS AWAY ALL SMALL AND FULL OF UP YOURS. She didn’t even need to break out the mace or the rape whistle, you guys.

Oh and the earlier scene with Angie definitely wins most concise up yours. Angie asked Alison for coffee and she just said No and walked away and I think the best part about it was that she didn’t even put any effort into it being snappy or a put-down or anything. It was just plain No.

And meanwhile this whole thing kind of illustrates me earlier point about how if Felix were involved with DYAD it would be likely he’d be conscripted as an emergency monitor for Alison right now. It would be seriously impossible for them to get another one on her at this point. She thinks anyone who tries to enter her life is a monitor – even the lady at the gym – even the lady at the gym who then says she’s a police officer.

Rin says: I’m not quite there with thinking maybe Fe is an emergency monitor of sorts, but I still do think it’s odd. Maybe they’re setting him up to look dodgy for the big payoff of HE NEVER WAS!! HE’S ALWAYS BEEN THE LOYAL BLACK LABRADOR PUPPY. HOW COULD YOU ASSHOLES EVER DOUBT HIM?!?!? I would be up for that.

Even the way Alison pokes people in the chest is so Alison.

Sophy says: I TELL YOU WHAT, RIN, IF NEAL COMES BACK IN THE S3 FINALE OF OUAT ON SUNDAY I WILL BELIEVE YOU ABOUT FELIX AND TAKE MY PARANOIA BOOTS OFF AND PUT MY BUTTLESS CHAPS ON AND CHILL OUT.

Sophy says: LITTLE THIEF. LOOK AT HER. She played her part so well and I was so proud. And I think my favourite part was erstwhile drug dealer Sarah trying to be A Good Mom by telling her we only steal candy when we really have to.

Cutest.

And can we just take a moment to appreciate Uncle Felix picnicking in the woods in his hipster coat? And the fact that Tatiana Maslany is so little a small child almost doesn’t look small next to her?

Rin says: HEHEHE. Children stealings things has never been cuter.

I think it would have been easier to fool the shopkeeper if Felix was a bit more inconspicuous, but that’s like asking a hedgehog to not be so hedgey.

Sophy says: I SWEAR THAT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER. FELIX. HEDGEHOG. HEDGEY. I WANT IT ON A SHIRT. AND TATTOOED ON MY INSIDE SKIN.

Sophy says: They don’t need him at all anymore!

Rin says: WAS DUMBLEDORE PLAYED BY TATIANA MASLANY?

Also.

I see your gif and raise it a:

Sophy says: TATIANA MASLANY WILL ALSO PLAY A YOUNG FATHER CHRISTMAS IN THE UPCOMING FATHER CHRISTMAS BIOPIC. THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT.

7 Responses

Hello and thanks for the recaps. The episode titles are Charles Darwin quotations. You can find me in the corner feeling smug (no, that’s not the cat) unless you already mentioned that fact in the recap, which I haven’t read yet ‘cos we’re an episode behind in the UK (yes, I am bitter), in which case you can find me in the corner self-flagellating for still not managing to refuse the childish urge to show off.

Tatiana Maslany to win all the prizes, obviously.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen Utopia yet, you should, and then you should cap it. Be prepared to lose your trousers though, all of ’em – it’s stupefyingly pretty.

I have to say though – I just don’t think the “Felix as a monitor’ theory checks out. Why? We know that DYAD has no information on Sarah. We’ve seen how slim her folder is and how much Rachel is dying to figure her out. If Felix had been her monitor the entire time, none of the mystery revolving around Sarah would exist.

I also don’t think it’s shocking or suspicious that Felix didn’t mention Alison’s monitor problems to Sarah. He knows Sarah well enough to understand that compared to the problems that Sarah is currently dealing with, it just wouldn’t be important. Sarah wouldn’t give a fuck. Right now Sarah’s hyper focused on Kira. Nobody else matters, especially Alison.

If it turns out that Felix knows more than he’s let on, I think the more likely scenario would be that he’s somehow involved with Mrs S…and that’s a whole other mess I just don’t want to even touch yet.

I take most of your points except the one about Felix not telling Sarah about Alison because Sarah wouldn’t care. First I think Sarah would care, not about Alison as you surmise but about information that’s relevant to the way DYAD works and exactly who’s working for DYAD – information that could be relevant to protecting Kira! But even if I agreed that she’d shrug off that information… the question still arises as to why Felix would not tell her anyway? Felix has been in a position twice where it would be natural for him to mention the Donnie situation, once getting into the car to leave and once bringing up Alison as a reason to go home. I still think there has to be a reason he has chosen not to mention it, even if it’s just that it’s a minor writing blip.

But yeah, I take your other point about the file being slim compared to the others. AND AS ALWAYS HOPE THAT I AM JUST BEING PARANOID.

AGH YES I just don’t know what to think about Felix right now. DON’T BE EVIL. I don’t think he is. Also remember when Alison vacuumed aggressively at Donnie. She is a delight.

ALSO I HAVE EXCELLENT NEWS: bloodtiesthemusical.ca BLOOD TIES IS A REAL MUSICAL. HOW GREAT IS THAT. And they’re performing it again this summer in Toronto. I will be in Toronto at some point this summer so I may just have to see it. It probably won’t have Tatiana but still. (Apparently they tried to get a different musical but it was too expensive, so one of the producers was involved in Blood Ties somehow so they decided to use it. AND WHAT A PERFECT THING THAT TURNED OUT TO BE.)

But seriously, I really don’t think he is, it just wouldn’t make sense. Plus I doubt the writers would go there because for Sarah and probably Alison, it would be unforgivable, and its basicall the end of Felix as a fun character.

As for not telling Sarah, I think partly he knows that sarah doesn’t need extra stress, and partly maybe feels a bit guilty about it since he thought Ainsly was the monitor too and now she’s dead. He als promised that he wouldn’t tell Sarah about Ainsley so maybe he doesn’t want to start talking about it in case he reveals too much.